Planners at City of Edinburgh Council are circulating a draft of revised planning guidelines on Building Heights and Roofscapes.
You can download a pdf of this draft by clicking on the link at the bottom of this page. The revised passages are highlighted. For purposes of comparison, the current Guidelines (adopted in 1999) are also available below.
Credit where credit's due: remarkably, for documents of this kind, this particular example is concise, well written and seems easy to understand. Apart from updating and clarifying the existing Guidelines, the new draft appears to reflect a slightly tougher attitude towards new developments than was evident 11 years ago:
'The Council [...] recognises the importance of the harmonious makeup of large parts of the city and has established a presumption against new buildings that are conspicuously higher than their neighbours. Strategic views across the city have been defined and protected through the Protection of Key Views guideline' [our emphasis].
A consultation period will now run until 6 August 2010. Any comments can be sent by email to alison.morris@edinburgh.gov.uk or in writing to Alison Morris, Planning, Waverley Court, 4 East Market Street, Edinburgh EH8 8EU. Alternatively, you can fill in the online survey at http://www.surveymonkey.com.